Recommended Reading

As the number of people in American prisons grows, so too does the
number of children affected by their parents' absence. In an ideal
world, we would halt the incarceration of our citizens in ineffective
prisons which are often distant from the families and communities that
people in prison leave behind. In the meantime, this book list compiles
the many books for and about children of incarcerated parents. These
books serve many purposes: they show children with parents in prison
that they are not alone, they educate policy makers about effective
practices, they act as a resource for caretakers coping with extra
responsibilities, and they focus the research and teaching efforts of
scholars and students.

There are many books about related topics such as parental absence
and loss, foster care, parental mental illness and addiction, shelter
living and witnessing trauma. In order to focus specifically on the
topic of children of incarcerated parents, this list does not include
those books, although they would undoubtedly be beneficial to children
of incarcerated parents and the people who care for and about them.
This list is also limited to books, and therefore does not contain any
of the many high-quality booklets, reports, program evaluations and
journal articles that exist that address the topic of children of
incarcerated parents. Please see the Online Resources page for
those other resources.

For Younger Children:

Beal, Janice M. & Gilmore, Vanessa. 2008. A Boy Named Rocky: A
Coloring book for the Children of Incarcerated Parents. Available
at: www.4theloveofkids.com.